More Women's Sewing

Here are some pictures of the women in Cantil-e we are training to sew and be a part of a cooperative. As you can tell, they are super excited. The last photo shows one of the "star pupils" and the beautiful dress she made for her daughter!

More Prison Photos

Top: the chapel with "lanterns", beautiful piñata looking things made by the prisoners for the holidays.

Next: prisoners are allowed to sell certain goods to make a little extra income. Here was an unmanned shop right outside the men's dorm/cell.

Next: Even pastors pump iron! Or rather concrete, in this case.

Next: this broken down car serves as a model for prisoners to learn and practice on.

Final: the favorite game here seems to be a form of checkers. These creative prisoners collected white and red bottle caps as their pieces, flipping them upside down to "crown" them. Many watch silently on. (Ending that sentence fragment in a preposition is for you, Brennan.)

Dinner with Sulliman University

Tonight we had a very delectable dinner with various persons of Silliman University at the president's house. Unfortunately, the president was not able to join us, as he was not feeling well, but we had a nice time and brief yet productive meeting afterwards. PCUSA Missionary Cobbie Palm led the meeting, bringing the two entities together. We agreed by the end of March to draft a partnership document that would include an overall Memorandum of Understanding between Silliman and First Pres Ann Arbor, followed by a Memorandum of Agreement that outlined what specific projects we would work on over the next 2-3 years, which would include the next task force trip. Everyone seemed cautiously hopeful about what was discussed. We returned from dinner to meet with Chitty, an old friend from past trips/projects (last picture).

Trip outside Dumaguete

After visiting the prison, Hank, John and Evans all went out to lunch to Sibuland by the ocean. Later we went up into the mountains beyond Valencia, where many expats live. Up there is a nice retreat spot for bible study along the river, although it was damaged a year ago in the typhoon. There is also a geothermal plant that powers the entire island and surrounding ones. It was only supposed to last four years but has been operating for over 20! They are able to clean out the sulfur deposits from the steam; quite smelly and similar to Yellowstone, although we didn't see any geysers. We also saw a golf course but no golfers. The downside is that the three of us got sick the next day, but are doing ok now. You can see in one of the pictures the basketball hoop in the middle of the jungle! The last picture is of a funeral procession.

Plantasia Park

On the same property as Care Corners is a nursery and beautiful grounds also owned by Marietta's family. The whole place was flooded a few hours; most of the ten acres of land has recovered. They also have horses and a beautiful house. It's a little piece of paradise right off the main road between Dumaguete and Sibuland. You feel an entire world away... Until a truck blows its horn.

Care Corners

One of our partners is Care Corners, a book resource center run by a lovely couple, Riodel and Marietta Montebon. Unfortunately, there was a massive flood that destroyed one building, leaving only the foundation, and flooded nearly three feet of another building, destroying most of the books and furniture. They are slowly rebuilding and hope to continue their wonderful ministry, yet it was sad to see their huge setback.

Books Delivered!

One of our projects is sending children's books to Sulliman Church and University, who then distribute them to local, smaller churches. We visited this UCC Philippines church that had just received one of our five boxes we had sent (or about 1,000 or so books total). Across the street is a day care or preschool. The hope is that the kids in the neighborhood will make use of the books, in addition to the children of the church.